1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a marking apparatus and method of marking elongate articles such as tubing, wire, and the like.
2. Prior Art Statement
Marking apparatus for elongate articles such as tubing, wire, and the like are well known in the art. A typical apparatus proposed heretofore uses a heated platen which includes heated characters which are urged toward the surface of an article to be marked sandwiching a marking tape therebetween to transfer a portion of the marking tape which corresponds to a character to be marked against the tape. Inherent with apparatus proposed heretofore is the concept that the characters must be of preformed fixed construction and design.
One example of a previously proposed marking apparatus is a hand-held apparatus sold by the Industrial Products Division of W. H. Brady Co., 2221 W. Camden Rd., P.O. Box 2131, Milwaukee, Wis. 53201 and sold as Model PM-1 under the registered trademark "PORTA-MARK." Another example of a similar hand-held apparatus is sold by NDC International, a Division of National Dynamics Corporation, 2075 Palos Verdes Drive North, Lomita, Calif. 90717, and under the trade name Hotmarker M-3.
However, inherent with the previously proposed apparatus is the fact that such apparatus are comparatively complex, are expensive, and have limited versatility based on the number of preformed characters.